Substring: "text" against "characters"

Does it really matter if I use 'text' or 'characters' when extracting parts from a given text?

We sometimes see code that might go something like this:

Applescript:

set someText to"Now is the time for all men to come to..."

text 12 thru 23 of someText --> "time for all"

It's often assumed that this is pretty much the same as saying:

Applescript:

set someText to "Now is the time for all men to come to..."

characters 12 thru 23 of someText as text --> "time for all"

However, while the results might appear to be the same in both cases, the operations involved are quite different. When using 'text', the relevant text is extracted intact - with no extra coercions involved. By contrast, 'characters':

Applescript:

Applescript:

result as text --> "time for all"

And we could have various side-effects when using 'characters' against 'text':-Longer speed execution (as we have various operations).-Unexpected results depending on the state of AppleScript's text item delimiters. Eg:

Applescript:

set text item delimiters to "_"set someText to"Now is the time for all men to come to..."